Good afternoon!

Happy Friday!!

It’s a gorgeous and sunny day here in Bermuda and I am loving the vitamin D and positive vibes it’s bringing! Hope you’re doing great and are able to get a little bit of sunshine in!

In my newsletter today, I wanted to share some nutrition education & a health hack that really makes a huge difference if you want to LEVEL UP & OPTIMISE your health!!

It was inspired by a mistake I made last week that I seriously can’t believe I made!

In fact, I was so disappointed because it’s basically a health hack/skill that would be found in any FUNDAMENTALS OF NUTRITION handbook, and I have been practicing this particular skill since I was 14 years old… and last week, I just totally failed!!

Well, actually I was SO FOOLED BY MARKETING that I honestly did not think there was a NEED to do my due diligence, to do this one thing I’ve been doing for DECADES.

That’s not my usual M.O. I’m not easily tricked, swindled or fooled, and I’m certainly not careless.

And because I am a leader in this field, it occurred to me that if this can happen to ME, it can happen to ANYONE.

And as such, my mistake has value in that it has shown me just how important it is to do this one thing. So I’m here today sharing it with you so that you don’t make the same mistake yourself…no matter how advanced your nutrition skills are.

SO…

What was the mistake?

I didn’t turn around a package of a healthy looking food to see what was on the ingredients list.

See that photo above with a huge bag of “fancy” cashews with sea salt? I bought that. I picked it up, examined the size and quality of the cashews in that little peek-a-boo window there on the front and put it in my shopping cart, paid for it and took it home and ate some. I love nuts, I am OK with sea salt, and this seemed like a great way to add healthy, powerful plant protein to my weekday meals…

But do you know what? They forgot to mention one thing on the front of the package – that these cashews are roasted in peanut oil.

Blindly, I assumed that the ingredients were: cashews, sea salt. PERIOD.

BUT NOPE!!

There is one other ingredient and it’s so unhealthy that I would NEVER had bought this if I had known it was in there – peanut oil!

Peanut oil is a cheap oil that causes inflammation in the body. I don’t even eat peanuts!

Now I have a whole bag of nuts that I don’t know what to do with. (YES I really care that much about it!)

And cashews are normally a health food!! But NOT IN EVERY CASE. YOU MUST READ THE BACK OF PACKAGE – THE INGREDIENTS LIST – TO KNOW FOR SURE!!

This same issue came up twice since last week in my 1-on-1 Integrative Nutrition Health Coaching sessions – 

1) One of my clients bought this brand of almond butter, thinking, of course, that almond butter is a healthy food to buy…

Makes sense, right?

But NO, this is not a healthy brand of almond butter. I would pass on this one. WHY?

Because nut butters SHOULD HAVE ONLY ONE INGREDIENT – NUTS.

And maybe sea salt. But that’s it!

This nut butter also has palm oil. See the image below. The items in red are NOT healthy ingredients. So, overall, these are not healthy almond butters.

 
Source: Food Babe

The Jif Almond Butter in that photo even includes sugar and EEEEEK!!! HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS! Those are SUPER HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH!! 

I absolutely LOVE almond butter and eat it often, however, just like Vani Hari (AKA The FOOD BABE, check her out!) says:

“Flip over all the major brands of nut butter and read the ingredients. It’s common to find hydrogenated oils (soybean and cottonseed) or palm oil added, which is used to keep it from separating on the shelf and keeps it fresh without refrigeration. This may be more convenient, but those heavily processed and refined oils are not good for your health.

Also, you’ll usually find sugar added to nut butter, which is an ingredient that most people eat way too much of. If you are eating nut butter on a regular basis, you especially want to make sure it is not sweetened. Occasionally, I may choose an organic nut butter that’s sweetened with coconut sugar (such as JEM brand), but I would treat this as a dessert. My everyday nut butter doesn’t contain any added sugars – just nuts!” (my emphasis)

So YES please buy almond butter…but remember to flip the package to the back and read the entire ingredients label!! Because some sneaky companies will slip in something cheap and hazardous if they can! These items may sell at a cheaper price, but they’re basically throw aways to me.

A final example of how companies are trying to swindle consumers that I encountered last week was when an incredible 1-on-1 Integrative Nutrition Coaching client of mine (💗💗💗 MY CLIENTS!) sent me a photo of this item that they bought – an “Olive Oil” mayonnaise – for their curry salad dressing:

Looks great, right??

YOU THINK: “Olive oil is good for you and so the mayo industry has figured out how to make a healthy mayonnaise using olive oil! What could be better?!!”

Well, sorry to say this but:

• Best Foods Olive Oil Mayo is actually made mostly with soybean oil, rather than olive oil.

And soybean oil is inflammatory to the body, amongst other health issues.

It shows just how far a company will go to mislead consumers by taking an unhealthy product and disguising it as a healthy one with the design and wording on the front of the package.

And these are NOT isolated events. Many products lie on the front of the packaging and so let this be your reminder to ALWAYS read the ingredient list on your food and NOT TO TRUST what the FRONT of the package says. Food labels – the front of packages – are lying!

And lying by omission (cashews & almond butter), is indeed a form of lying.😉

I hope that this optimal health success hack elevates your future food choices!!

Here’s to a healthier future for you and your family! 💛💛💛💛

And if there’s anyway I can help you with your grocery choices, please reach out and we’ll set you up with a 1-on-1 nutrition coaching session.

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Stay safe, healthy and happy everyone!

With so much love,

Agathe xo

“Get FUELLED today for a healthier and happier tomorrow!”

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